Jihadist reveals secret deal behind big prisoner swap

A high-ranking Islamic State fighter has given a first-hand account of how Turkey secretly released scores of jihadists into the arms of the terrorist group as part of a controversial prisoner swap.

As many as 180 captured militants, some of them British or European Union citizens, were handed over to the jihadists in mid-September in return for 49 Turkish consular staff that Islamic State captured when it overran the Iraqi city of Mosul in June. European governments have expressed frustration with Turkey for refusing to confirm the swap, and to say whether EU citizens were involved.

One of the prisoners returned to Isis was Al-Meqdad al-Sharoury, a Yemeni who grew up in Saudi Arabia. In an interview with The Times, he told how he and…